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For someone who's lost nearly 40 years of his life due to a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan strikes a unusually hopeful attitude.

In our conversation last month, for what was his first interview since being liberated from prison in May, he was cheerful and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the brutal homicide of Diane Sindall in his home town of Birkenhead - an incident he said he had limited information regarding because someone spoke to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was found guilty the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was destined to a extended term in some of Britain's highest-security category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Wirral Predator", "The Mersey Ripper" and "The Wolfman".

Adapting to a Digital World

Prior to our discussion, he was full of stories about how since his release he has had to adapt to a completely different world.

When he was detained, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, few knew about the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He recalled watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "society has evolved" - from trying to work out how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Digital Adjustments

His confinement means he has been ignorant of the way so many facets of everyday life have changed - similar to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"After spending so long in prison and discovering there's no DHSS [Department of Health and Social Security, now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)] where you can receive your money - you're thinking, 'Amazing, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after learning doctor's appointments need to be arranged on something he now knows is called an 'mobile program'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was riding on a bus shortly after his freedom and saw people using smartphones. He only recognized they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Psychological Effects

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in custody have also led to an unavoidable sense of institutionalisation.

He described how after his liberation, one morning in his flat he went back to his bedroom and settled on his bed, because he was subconsciously waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell.

"You've got to be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will yell at you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'What am I doing?'"

Demanding Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's optimism is mixed with a longing for answers about how he came to be charged with an infamous murder that he was innocent of, and a confusion about why he still has not had an apology.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"Freedom disappeared, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"It pains me because I wasn't there for them", he said.

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an answer off them."

"That's all I want, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Response

Merseyside Police said "there would be little benefit to be gained for a re-examination of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and progress in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did refer some of Mr Sullivan's accusations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now look at his claims that officers beat him up and warned to link him to other crimes if he refused to admit to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would express regret, the force did not directly answer the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a serious failure of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan told me about his basic aspiration - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to accomplish at some points over his almost forty years behind bars.

"The sole objective to do now is get on with my own life and move forward as I was before, and experience freedom now".

His life ahead may be made more manageable by government financial payment, paid to victims of wrongful convictions.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his eventual payout will get very close to.

But the process is not immediate, and it is protracted.

Andrew Malkinson, whose sentence for a rape he had no involvement in was dismissed in 2023, was only awarded an provisional award earlier this year.

Admitted offenders who confess to their crimes and are released get a housing and some help with living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an exonerated person, is not qualified for that help.

And so he is existing a basic lifestyle, with his humble goals - although many think he is a compensation recipient.

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "there's not a figure that you could say that would be adequate for losing 38 years of your life".